1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In view of security and the like, environments are constructed in which client apparatuses connected to a local network such as an in-house network are limited in terms of connection to external networks. However, in an environment in which a plurality of client apparatuses and printers are connected via a network, a manager who manages device drivers to be installed on the client apparatuses is required to perform processing for installation and an update every time when an update of a device driver or installation of a new client apparatus is taken place, which takes time and trouble.
In view of such circumstances, a technique is disclosed in which a printer connected to a local network acquires a driver from an external apparatus via a router and an external network, and the printer distributes the driver to client apparatuses connected to the local network, for example (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-059239). In view of security and the like, environments are constructed in which client apparatuses connected to a local network such as an in-house network are limited in terms of connection to external networks.
However, the apparatuses connected to the local network in such an environment cannot download a control program for controlling a device from the external apparatus via the external network. For this reason, it has conventionally been difficult to maintain an environment in which connection from client apparatuses to external networks is controlled and to reduce loads on the manager side when the control program is installed on the client apparatuses.